A view of Globalstar offices. Photo credit: Globalstar

Mobile satellite and IoT service provider Globalstar reported some small signs of recovery from COVID-19 during its first fiscal quarter of 2021 (Q121), particularly with commercial IoT equipment sales revenues and gross SPOT service activations.

The company’s total Q121 revenues declined 16% from the first quarter of 2020 to $26.9 million — mostly due to lower service revenues. But, this was also offset partially by an increase in revenue generated from subscriber equipment sales, which increased from $3.2 million to $3.8 million during the quarter. Despite the decline in Globalstar’s SPOT service revenue in Q121, gross activations were up 14% from the first quarter of 2020 and up 15% over the last year, driven by the store re-openings in mid-2020 and increased online product distribution.

While reporting Globalstar’s results, CEO Dave Kagan also noted that the company is pursuing a significant commercial IoT sale in the alternative energy segment that potentially involves the sale of more than 100,000 units.

“If we secure it, this deployment would drive significant efficiencies in the customer’s operations and could serve as a catalyst for similar use cases in the future,” said Kagan. “Additionally, last month, we shipped the first 10,000 Commercial IoT units for the animal tracking deployment with our Australian partner, Ceres Tag. We believe animal tracking is a significant opportunity for Globalstar given not only its market size and the industry’s need to improve food supply chain integrity, but also because our network is uniquely designed to fulfill this need at a device size and price point unmatched in the satellite industry.”